Monday, May 31, 2010

"A Bay Of Blood" reminds me a lot of dominoes, set 'em up in a line, and knock 'em right down!!! The music for this Mario Bava feature was composed by the Maestro Stelvio Cipriani, just one out of over 200 films he has written the soundtrack for. Stelvio is probably one of Italy's most famous composers, if not most prolific, for creating music for awesome titles like "Ski Mistress" and "Invasion By The Atomic Zombies" and "Sex and Black Magic" and one of his most famous outings, "Tentacles!"

Here's the basic storyline. This guy kills his wife, then he gets killed, then the person that killed him gets killed, then somebody else gets killed, and then somebody kills them, and later, more people get killed by other people who get killed too! Something like that!

It had always been my understanding that Mario Bava was a real goremeister, and I never did understand it, I mean like have you ever seen "Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs?" But after watching "Reazione A Catena" the original title of "A Bay Of Blood," I do understand why, because it's a real blood fest!!

Before they kill somebody, they gotta watch 'em real good first! Preferably at a distance and in hiding!

You have to give the producers of "Reazione A Catena" credit, they really tried to sell this film again and again using all kinds of different titles like "Ecology of a Crime" and "The Antecedent" or "The Last House on the Left Part II" or my favorite, "Twitch of the Death Nerve!" People thought Mario Bava made four slasher flicks all at the same time, and those are just some of the English titles!!

Just in case you ever wondered what the President of Iran did before his current gig!!

All right, so pretty much everybody else got killed, so let's bring on the teenagers!!

What a fun looking place, you can just almost hear the children laughing!

Card number 13 is the card of death!! What did you expect, pink bunnies?

Are those knockers on the fortune teller's ring, and what significance do they hold?

Still killing the killers and watching the watchers!!

If you know you're going to get killed anyway, what better time to do a nude swimming scene?

Lost and alone in a barn with more angles than a geometry class!

Try and get a good reflection shot in one of those new ugly spoked mags you see on a lot of cars today, and good luck with that!

I lost track of how many people got murdered. I was counting for a while, but then I got a splitting headache! I read later it was lucky 13!

It's not over yet, there's always time for one more gruesome murder!! A lot of people say that "Black Christmas" made in 1974 made by Bob Clark was the first modern day slasher flick, Bava's "A Bay Of Blood" preceded it by a full 3 years!!!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

"Head" is one of the most difficult films to try and present to you in this format because it has so damn much going on, so many twists and turns, so much great music, so many cameos, it's just impossible, the only real option you have, is to watch the film yourself! It's all pretty confusing, even this title card was actually at The End of the movie!!

"Head" starts at The End, and ends at the beginning, and that's pretty much what you can expect through the whole film, or as the boys in The Firesign Theatre would say, "Everything you know, is WRONG," and they would be right about that!!

In this scene, Mike Nesmith is having trouble sleeping, so.......

Davy, Mickey, and Peter decide to throw him an unappreciated surprise birthday party!

There is way too much cool music in this movie, The Monkees had their TV show cancelled, and jumped off that last Boyce & Hart Train To Clarksville, and started writing their own music like this song composed by Peter Tork, "Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?"

Sounding more like vintage Quicksilver Messenger Service or Country Joe and the Fish on this song, the timeless soundtrack for this movie stands alone and is also well worth checking out!!

"Head" is anti-war...

"Head" is anti-corporation....

And hopeful for one world unity, all through the power of satire, parody and Pop culture!

You can just read it all over Mike Nesmith's face!!!

"Head" is filled to the brim with appearances by a Who's Who of 60's Pop icons! People like Carol Doda, seated on Mike Nesmith's left, who stunned the world 4 years earlier with her topless Go-Go act at The Condor Club in San Francisco, giving new meaning to the term topless jerk! Carol was a shrewd businesswoman and was called Sally Silicone in this film, because by recognizing her assets she became wildly popular, and one of the first strippers to bounce her 34D's up to 44 Double D's!!

With a record of 50-4, Heavyweight Champion Of The World, Sonny Liston scared the crap out of me as a kid. Floyd Patterson had put his Heavyweight title on the line and they broadcast the big event on the radio. Liston devastated Patterson, and knocked him out in the first round! In this nightmare sequence, Sonny towers over Davy Jones, even though he was supposed to take a fall!

There have been few people throughout history who were so famous, they only had to use one name, like Houdini, Dali and Bono, and I would venture to say that Disney sweetheart Annette was one of the chosen few, although sometimes she would be referred to by her whole name, Annette Funicello!

Pro Football Hall OF Famer Ray Nitschke was the Middle Linebacker for the Green Bay Packers for 15 years from 1958 to 1972!!

Davy's partner in this scene was dancer and choreographer Toni Basil, who would make it to #1 in the Billboard Charts in 1982 with the novelty tune, "Hey Mickey," you know like in Dolenz!!

Even Frank "No Commerical Potential" Zappa would find time to do a walk through with a cow!!

Jumper June (Pretty Maids In A Row)Fairchild has been known for also coming up with the name "Three Dog Night" for her boyfriend's band!

Even director/producer/writer Bob Rafelson and producer/writer Jack Nicholson make a small appearance, and the list of cameos goes on and on with names like Tor Johnson, Terri Garr, Rona Barrett, professional wrassler Tiger Joe Marsh, Dennis Hopper( Who I just read died of cancer today, Damn!) and a whole bunch more people with their names spelled backwards!!

When the boys become dandruff, is it all about crass commercialism or a tribute to "The Incredible Shrinking Man?"

Hey Mickey, is it really "The Beginnning Of The End" or are we all just "stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues again?"

There are also references to Bela and Boris, and Universal Horror as evidenced by this shot, and don't forget about the The Radio City Rockettes, in fact I'm not sure if there is anybody who is not in this picture!!

Victor Mature takes on the role of the "Amazing Colossal Man!" So, is it the beginning or the end, is it big or is it small, is it commercial or non-commercial, ass backwards or bass ackwards? It's been 42 years, and I'm not quite sure if anybody has ever figured it out yet!!You can get "Head" from Netflix, and I have no idea what you are waiting for!

The plot goes... "An adventurer hunting for treasure in Greece accidentally frees a monster that forces local villagers to sacrifice virgins."

The two real problems with this flick is that it's boring as hell and you never get a good look at the monster! An ancient drawing of the creature shows it's big bobo, so maybe that's the reason! Also, this was the only film ever produced by Connaught International.

Music is by Jerry Mosely, who had a spectacular career with a total of 2 composing credits! The other one was FRIGHTMARE...

DWRAYGER DUNGEON PRESENTS: The Monster Movie Music Manifesto

Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Spy, Super-Hero, JD, Thriller and Noir films, that's what we like, and a recurring theme in a lot of those kinds of movies has always been music! There were rockin' clubs and cafes with cool jukeboxes, teen poolside parties with local bands, sometimes it was a seedy bar with a sleazy torch singer, a beatnik coffeehouse, maybe dancing somewhere in outer space, or some weird tribal ceremony on a cool secluded island with giant monsters running around, and you could count on it that a lot of the time there was smoking and drinking going on. It was a fun time!! A lot of movies also had quirky, swingin', jazzy or rockin' themes or credits, or maybe just some wild Psychotronic elements! We started with the music from 50's & 60's Monster Movies, but we later morphed into the new, bigger and better, Rock and Soul, 70's brevity, 80's maybes, 1940's Gorilla and Bela site from Hell! So, sit down, and take a load off, pour yourself a cool one, and order up something hot and greasy, because we have a lot of tasty tidbits on the menu, way outside the realm of good taste! If any of the postings just happen to step on anybody's toes, let us know & we will remove them immediately, if not sooner!! We recognize all formal copyrights, and do this solely to support and promote the films featured! This forum is only being presented in a critical and scholarly critique, and should not be construed as anything else. It's just all for Fun & Historical Education in an effort to keep bad taste alive forever!!! If the words and pictures pique your interest, then please go out & buy, or rent the movies, wherever you can find them! All soundclips are approximately two minutes long, or just enough to give you a feel for the movie! When we post a sound clip, it will only stay up 30 days or less! These days, after getting hassled time and time again, we don't even do soundclips much anymore!!

Here are some good places to start your search for hard to find cult films on the internet:

TRASH PALACE!

CULT ACTION!!

When it comes to movies, the name of this site speaks for itself!

1980's CASSETTE CULTURE

Hear What You Missed The First Go Round!

BSC MUSIC

If you would like to hear more amazing music from composers like Peter Thomas and Martin Böttcher, then do yourself a favor and check out BSC Music! There Are Still Places In The World To Buy Cool Music!